On Language and Technology — How Wizcomtech Makes Life Easier for People with Dyslexia

WizcomTech Ltd
Sep 7, 2018 · 4 min read

Language is a complicated concept. Language helps us define the world around us, it’s how we convey feelings, ideas and concepts. Our thoughts are expressed through words, and we have a need to express ourselves in a new, unknown manner — we invent new words for it, or change the meaning of existing words, and in some cases, borrow words from other languages that can express our thoughts in ways our own language can’t.

Without language, human advancement would have never been. We wouldn’t have technology, or philosophy, or books and magazines and the internet…

With such a powerful tool at our disposal, what happens when, for some reason — you have a hard time using it, or learning a new one?

You may be an immigrant learning a new language, because you need to be able to go to the store, talk to your doctor, and get a good job.

Maybe you’re a student dealing with dyslexia, which makes reading and writing a struggle instead of a casual activity.

Either way, language suddenly becomes the enemy, and the result can be discouragement, frustration, anger, and eventually — abandonment.

These hardships were what drove Wizomtech to create its original product — the revolutionary Quicktionary: a handheld device that, when applied to printed words — can scan, identify, translate and provide a dictionary definition for the scanned word. Back in 1995, this technology was groundbreaking: the original product had an English-Hebrew dictionary, but the company very quickly added many more languages to the device, making it the only solution of its kind in the world.

In the last 20+ years, Wizcomtech came out with new generations for the Quicktionary, as well, as sister-products, such as the ReadingPen™ — a device that can read scanned text aloud, as well as provide the user with bunch of alternative words using an internal thesaurus, and the ExamPen™ — similar to the ReadingPen, but designed for use in education settings and is approved for use by the US & UK boards of education.

The recent generations (the ReadingPen2™, ExamPen2™, and the Quicktionary2™) have helped so many reconnect with language, making it a fun experience again. From students to educators and ordinary people living with dyslexia throughout the world, Wizcomtech’s products have proven to be a huge help, making reading fun and easy again.

Here are some of the testimonials from educators who used the ExamPen to help their students overcome the hardships of dyslexia:

A. Power — Head of Learning Support, London:

“Our pupil who is using the pen is very pleased with it. I am now thinking about how to best use it for the school and for exams. The real benefit is that now we won’t need to request a PDF version of the exam, or go through the hassle of early opening to scan it and load it onto the pupil’s laptop. He will be able to use the pen to decode just the words he doesn’t understand or can’t read which will be a huge time saver. It also means he will have only one document open on his laptop to produce answers and can use the hard copy of the exam only.”

Maria — SENCo — Learning Development Department:

“Yes! The exam pens are fantastic. We ordered our first batch in March last academic year, and we had 12 users immediately, who all found them fantastic. I understand that you don’t need the same evidence for a reader

pen as you would for a reader, and whilst not cheap, they end up cheaper than having a reader and a room for a run of GCSEs or A levels for each student, plus they can be used for different students time after time.”

Kate Jones — SENCo — Thetford Grammar School:

“Our students gain greater confidence as they can use the pen to ‘check’ words and therefore feel more confident that they are answering appropriately.”

This is the power of language, when it’s made easy again — a student’s self-confidence returning as they start testing well again, a person with dyslexia rediscovers the joy of reading books, and an immigrant finding their words in a new language.

This is why Wizcomtech invented the scanning pen, to make language accessible to all, because, without language — where would we be?

These days, Wizcomtech is hard at work developing a new generation or Reading Pens, with improved ergonomics, making them suitable for use by students aged 7 and up. The new pens will include an improved, high-resolution screen and a variety of reading voices, and are in line with Wizcomtech’s goal — to lead the way in reading solutions for all ages and languages.

WizcomTech Ltd

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